There has been a long-felt need for cereal, cracker or chip box packages and the like, which are secured against contamination and moisture in the atmosphere, but yet are readily openable and reclosable so that when the package is opened and only a portion of the contents is removed, the remainder can be conveniently saved for future use. Most such packages presently comprise a box with a bag type liner which must be ruptured permanently or have flanges that are permanently separated to gain access to the contents. It is next to impossible to efficiently reseal the package. Consumers generally either roll the bag liner closed as best they can or stuff the top of the bag back into the box and close a loosely interlocking flap on the top of the box, neither of which methods fully close the package or adequately protect the contents from the surrounding environment. A reclosable fastener, such as that usable with the bag liner of this invention, can be that shown, for example, in British Patent 2,133,462, having a male fastener with ribs on either side thereof and an interlockable female fastener, similar to that presently sold by The Dow Chemical Company and identified as a ZIPLOC.RTM. Brand Bag with a wide track profile.
Taking an ordinary reclosable bag, such as that described in the before-identified British Patent, and just placing it in the box as a liner still does not provide a fully satisfactory package. When the bag or liner is filled with product, the reclosable fastener, which is relatively stiffer than the film of the bag body, ends up being wider than the box in which it is contained. This naturally occurs with a generally rectangular shaped unfilled, flat bag that is filled and made to conform to a three dimensional shape, such as a box. Since the reclosable fastener section of the liner is wider than the box, when an attempt is made to push the fastener section into the box, it must be pushed together laterally. This can result in the fastener section being accordioned or crimped and is not readily openable. To be readily opened would require that the reclosable fastener section be raised again, taken from the box from where it has been stuffed, spread lengthwise to a width wider than that of the box, and then unzipped or otherwise unfastened. It would then be reclosed before stuffing the fastener section back into the box. Beside requiring more material than is necessary to form the liner, the above procedure results in an inconvenient closure which is essentially nonfunctional when it is below the top opening of the box in which it is contained. Prior to this invention there was thus the need to have a reclosable box liner which has a reclosable fastener of about the same width as the width of the box so that it would fit comfortably therewithin, avoiding wasted material, and even being openable and reclosable within the box below the open top of the box should that be desired, or in any other position as may be desired.